The Stars: A New Way to See Them
by H. A. Rey · Grade 4-7 · Ages Ages 8-12
This friendly astronomy book helps readers find constellations by drawing star pictures in a simpler, easier-to-remember way. It also explains how the night sky changes through the year and how to use star maps to spot things overhead.
Key vocabulary
A constellation is a group of stars that people imagine as a picture or shape in the sky.
A star is a huge, glowing ball of hot gas far away in space. Our Sun is a star too.
A planet is a large round object that travels around a star. Earth is the planet we live on.
Magnitude is a way to describe how bright a star looks from Earth. A lower number means the star looks brighter.
The ecliptic is the path the Sun seems to follow across the sky during the year. The Moon and planets are often seen near this path too.
The zenith is the point in the sky that is straight above your head.
A hemisphere is half of a sphere, like the northern or southern half of Earth. The sky can look different from each half.
The horizon is the line where the sky seems to meet the land or sea.